How To Focalize

Having now seen the principles by which we must be governed, and the apparatus required, we will briefly apply them.

By focussing we understand, bringing the ground-glass into the plane which coincides with the sharpest projection of the image; the position of this plane varying of course according to the focal length of the lens and the distance of the object from the lens. Presuming, then, that the camera is in register, and set squarely before the object to be photographed, as can be determined by the spirit-levels, let the student proceed in focus his picture as sharply as he can without any stop. He must be careful that the swing-backs are parallel to the front planes of the camera.

Mental Attitude In Focussing

Now the great habit to cultivate is to think in values and masses, that is, you must, in your mind, by constant practice, analyze nature into masses and values, and if you constantly practise this at the beginning, you will find that it becomes a habit, and automatically, as you look at a scene or a person, you will see on the ground-glass of your mind the object translated into black and white masses, and you will notice their relative values. This habit is absolutely necessary for artistic work, for it is by this analysis that you will learn to know what is suitable for pictorial art, and what is not; for if the masses and values in a picture are not correctly expressed, nothing will ever put the picture right. Our own experience has been that where this analysis has left an impression of a lew strong masses, the picture has always been stronger when finished than otherwise. Now our student, having sharply focussed his picture with open aperture, must take his head from beneath the focussing cloth, and look steadily at his picture; fixing his eye on the principal object in the picture, he should go through this mental analysis, and at the same time note carefully how much detail he can see, both in the field of direct and indirect vision; and his sole object should be to render truly the impression thus obtained. He should then look on the focussing screen, and putting in his largest diaphragm, and using his swing-backs, and altering the focussing as may be necessary, see how truly he can get this impression, always remembering that the larger the diaphragm he uses the better. For this reason he should always begin with an open aperture, and work down to the smaller-sized diaphragm as needed. By working in this way,he will soon see what marvellous power and command he has over his translation, all by the judicious use of his focussing screen, swing-backs, and diaphragm combined. In focussing he must remember one thing, - never to focus so that it can be detected in the picture where the sharper focussing ends, and the less sharp focussing begins - as can be brought about by diaphragms. The sharpness should be gradated gently. He must also remember that the ground-glass picture is false and deceptive in its brightness, due to obvious physical facts. This is a point of great importance, which must not be forgotten when we are developing. The ground-glass picture, though greatly admired by the Tramontane masters, and approved by Canaletto and Ribera, as Count Algarotti assures us in one of his raptures on the camera obscura, is not so natural and beautiful as it may appear from the toy point of view, - it is not what the artist wants, any more than he wants the pictures of an ordinary camera obscura, for if these pictures were satisfying in an artistic sense, every one could, by erecting a camera obscura, have the satisfaction of his desire, and there would soon be an end to the pictorial arts, photography included; for no one who loved this picture so dearly would want a camera to take photographs with, but only one to look through. The deceptive luminosity of the ground-glass picture must not be allowed to influence our normal mental analysis of the natural scene. As we said before, therefore, the principal object in the picture must be fairly sharp, just as sharp as the eye sees it, and no sharper; but everything else, and all other planes of the picture, must be subdued, so that the resulting print shall give an impression to the eye as nearly identical as possible to the impression given by the natural scene. But, at the same time, it must be distinctly understood that so called "fuzziness" must not be carried to the length of destroying the structure of any object, otherwise it becomes noticeable, and by attracting the eye detracts from the general harmony, and is then just as harmful as excessive sharpness would be. Experience has shown, that it is always necessary to throw the principal object slightly (often only just perceptibly) out of focus, to obtain a natural appearance, except when there is much moisture in the air, as on a heavy mist-laden grey day, when we have found that the principal object (out of doors) may be focussed quite sharply, and yet appear natural, for the mist scattering the light softens the contours of all objects. Nothing in nature has a hard outline, but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into that-something else, often so subtilely that you cannot quite distinguish where one ends and the other begins. In this mingled decision and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the charm and mystery of nature. This is what the artist seeks, and what the photographer, as a rule, strenuously avoids.

How to "stop down.".

Ground-Glass Picture False.

Camera Obscura.